Despite claim by the Lagos State Government that N78.3million was spent to upgrade the personal website of former Governor Babatunde Fashola between 2014 and 2015, the firm involved has stated that it only received N10million.
A report by the Lagos Public Procurement Agency, published on Lagos State’s official website in May, stated that N78.3m was paid to a firm, Info Access Plus Limited, for the “upgrade of www.tundefashola.com website post May 29, 2015 handover”.
Reacting, the company which has continued to report the activities of Fashola even after leaving office, released a statement on Monday.
The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to the Twitter campaign alleging that the Lagos State Government, led by Governor Babatunde Fashola spent N78m to upgrade the www.tundefashola.com website, a site dedicated to giving citizens unfettered access to the governor’s daily activities and open access to information.
“It is imperative to state here that the website in question is not Mr. Babatunde Fashola’s personal website but an official website which reports and documents his official activities as a way of accounting for his stewardship to the people of Lagos State.
“While we do not hold brief for the Lagos State Government, the selective loading of contracts awarded and executed by the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency is itself suspect and aimed at a pre-determined end. The statement of the contract line item and the cost ascribed to the website of the agency are therefore misleading and mischievous.”
Noting that it had been running the website since 2008, the company added “N12.5m was quoted for the upgrade of the www.tundefashola.com website, which includes the complete re-design of all the hundreds of page templates. Meanwhile, the LASG spent less than N10m on this and not N78m being circulated on the social media.
“Info Access Plus Limited will provide free technical support for the entire life cycle of the website.
“Info Access Plus Limited will manage the contents of the site, which consist of press releases, speeches, photos, videos, etc., for one year.”
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